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Champions Online: Pre-Launch Preview

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Comments

  • JamkullJamkull Member UncommonPosts: 214

    very well done preview... very informative and it actually answered all my questions, thanks

  • rummblebellyrummblebelly Member Posts: 21

    Why do you feel you have to defend your point...Your ranting and raving about closed beta that happen almost a year ago wont sway people away from the game if  they like it and want to play it. Why are you so worried about going into every forum possible to bash this game..You work for NC Soft?  Get over it let it go...we get it you dont like the game...that dosent mean it sucks..just means you dont like it..Get over yourself!!

  • VrazuleVrazule Member Posts: 1,095

    I prefer the power special effects, the style of combat and the endurance mechanic of City of Heroes over Champions Online.  Both games tend to bore me after a month or so.  Too much instancing, virtually no explorable content, most of it is mission based.  At least I could solo well in CoH as a non healer, not choosing a regen or heal power  in CO really decreased the fun factor for me with the constant dying.

    With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal

  • junzo316junzo316 Member UncommonPosts: 1,712

    Very informative.  I've been playing for about a month and am having a blast.  The game is leaps and bounds better than CoH.  They have done a terrific job at making a better successor. 

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908
    Originally posted by Varny

    Originally posted by qbangy32

    Originally posted by TibMonkey

    Originally posted by Kryogenic 


    If it has any staying power and they revamp the combat system, switch to multiple servers instead of multi instanced copies of each zone, through out the cash shop, and add in secret identities,

    Then I'd quit.



     

    Ditto.

    Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.

     

     

    Well EQ2 did the same thing and people don't like all the loading between zones because then it doesn't feel like an online world.



     

    I wish posters would stop talking about 'people' as if we were all a hive mind automatically shared their opinions.

    I don't mind multiple zoning. It's a good way to deal with the heavy user base that is inevitable in the first month, but will then drop off sharply (very sharply for this game, but thats another post). They don't spoil the feel of anything to me tbh, and it worked well in EQ2 in the early days.

    I'm no fan of CO and it's item mall, but please don't try and act like the spokesman for an entire playerbase.

  • BrenelaelBrenelael Member UncommonPosts: 3,821
    Originally posted by psyconius


    Nice review.. I just need to point out that Cryptic is penalizing a huge portion of it's pre-order customers.. Direct2Drive specifically.. We are not allowed to take part in the head start, despite paying for pre-order just like everyone else. Regardless whether or not they said this up front, I find it to be a terrible business practice..
     
    My thoughts about it that I have been passing along to customer service and others:
     
    I really don't think you can brush this under the carpet. There are a LOT of D2D customers angry that we aren't in on the head start. If it weren't for some of them being in somehow, I'd let it go. Don't use us as pawns in a contract and shatter my respect for your gaming studio. The launch is looking messier and messier as the hours go by...
    Oh, and BTW.. I am part of a rather large gaming community about to launch a new site including reviews and guides. You were to be one of our first featured games.
     

    Did you try to log in? Some D2D customers are in the 3 day head start, as far as I can tell ones that also bought a sub. Posters in both the official forums and here on MMORPG.com have confirmed this. They are merrily playing away as we speak.

     

    As for the write up... Great job! I wasn't really interested in CO before as I'm mainly interested in STO but this article has me seriously thinking of snagging a copy and giving it a go. I played CoH through beta and thought it was okay but I was already playing Lineage II at the time so I stuck with that instead. From all I'm hearing about CO though it sounds like most of what I had a problem with CoH has been fixed with CO. My main issue with CoH was the extremely repetitiveness of both the combat and mission systems. CO seems to have totally revamped both into something a lot more exciting and interesting. I'll definitely be snagging a copy of CO and checking it out. Great Preview!

     

    Bren

     

    (Edited to clarify the D2D part of my post that not all D2D people are allowed in the Head Start.)

    while(horse==dead)
    {
    beat();
    }

  • JetrpgJetrpg Member UncommonPosts: 2,347
    Originally posted by Zeblade

    Well they didnt solve anything here. Its worse. If you play alone then its wonderland for you. There were to many times in beta that my friends and me could not play together because the super tiny instances were ful  100people. you cant cue, wait inline.. nope you have to go to a smaller one and hope it dont fell up fast before your other friends get there.
     
    Anyway nice write up.. but did everyone read the END GAME! Oh gee cant wait to get there

     

    Crazy talk.

    I played nothign but ina  group (almost 90% of the time).

    And never had this problem, ever.

    You can freely move and pick between where you go so you just call your friend/s over to yours.

    futhermore when leaving you just said #17 or whatenot and everyoen can pick it w/o waiting for the first person leaving to show up .

    "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine

  • DerekGordonDerekGordon Member Posts: 59

    I have deleted some posts to clean up this thread. Now please post constructively for those that continue this discussion!

    Thanks!

    MMORPG.com Staff

    Derek Gordon

  • panictmindpanictmind Member Posts: 15
    Originally posted by Babylon9000

    Originally posted by Haradeas


    If you liked city of villians / heroes, you will like this game. Didnt you like it , trust me you will hate it :p
    Tryed the open beta, but the game is just so pc heavy ... and I got a game pc go figger :) ( btw didnt like it so much )



     

    I have to agree on the game being PC heavy. I bought a newer video card just to play it and still can't crank it right up, but didn;t want to spend more than about $60.00Cdn on a card (Ge Force 9400GT) not the newest but still a pretty decent card and 1Gb of VRAM, it's no slouch on my extreme board with a dual core. Maybe time to buy a new PC next year. But still I would have thought I'd be able to crank the graphics right up and just hammer away with no choppiness. I have it at about 2/3 max video settings and it runs well now. it's a shame as I think alot of people willl be turned off by the huge video requirements.

     

    Dude, the 9400 GT isn't a gamers card... you need at least a 9600 GT to be able to do heavy graphics. To give you an example: even the old 8600 GT is a better gamers card than the 9400 GT.

  • panictmindpanictmind Member Posts: 15
    Originally posted by wyrde


    While most people regard the zones as an obstacle, I found them to be a great tool. If there weren't enough players around, I'd just switch to another zone. Too many? Switch to another zone. Having trouble with someone grabbing all the resources in a spot? Switch zones. The dreaded load screen, on my slow system, was never more than a ten seconds (typically much shorter, just a couple seconds). Even big areas like Millenium City loaded quickly. Changing zones is extremely easy and the game tells  you which zone you're in at several places. The big zones, Canada, Southwest Desert, and Mil City are also quite big. Even with the faster travel powers, it still takes a while to get from one end to the other.
    The game does have some other issues, most notably being so graphics-heavy (a long thread on the forums with people trying to supply information on the issue). But overall, it was  a lot of cheesy fun.
     
    -w

     

    Now, that's what I want to hear. You give some merits, you are aware of some issues. Giving specific examples and referencing discussions of the issues that are prominent.

    Kudos W.

  • panictmindpanictmind Member Posts: 15
    Originally posted by psyconius


    Nice review.. I just need to point out that Cryptic is penalizing a huge portion of it's pre-order customers.. Direct2Drive specifically.. We are not allowed to take part in the head start, despite paying for pre-order just like everyone else. Regardless whether or not they said this up front, I find it to be a terrible business practice..
     
    My thoughts about it that I have been passing along to customer service and others:
     
    I really don't think you can brush this under the carpet. There are a LOT of D2D customers angry that we aren't in on the head start. If it weren't for some of them being in somehow, I'd let it go. Don't use us as pawns in a contract and shatter my respect for your gaming studio. The launch is looking messier and messier as the hours go by...
    Oh, and BTW.. I am part of a rather large gaming community about to launch a new site including reviews and guides. You were to be one of our first featured games.
     

     

    I've also pre-ordered and was not able to play yet, I've also read in a previous forum post that someone who purchased from D2D was able to participate in the Headstart.

  • WorseThanWorseThan Member Posts: 2
    Originally posted by psyconius


    Nice review.. I just need to point out that Cryptic is penalizing a huge portion of it's pre-order customers.. Direct2Drive specifically.. We are not allowed to take part in the head start, despite paying for pre-order just like everyone else. Regardless whether or not they said this up front, I find it to be a terrible business practice..
     
    My thoughts about it that I have been passing along to customer service and others:
     
    I really don't think you can brush this under the carpet. There are a LOT of D2D customers angry that we aren't in on the head start. If it weren't for some of them being in somehow, I'd let it go. Don't use us as pawns in a contract and shatter my respect for your gaming studio. The launch is looking messier and messier as the hours go by...
    Oh, and BTW.. I am part of a rather large gaming community about to launch a new site including reviews and guides. You were to be one of our first featured games.
     



     

    [Quoted from: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/71763]:

    GameStop is offering access to the Early Start Program,[bold added for emphasis] giving customers who preorder a few days headstart in the game before its official launch on September 1st! In addition, all preorders include the exclusive Insectoid Airfoil costume piece and the Experimental Anti-Graviton Generator flight travel power at character creation.

    [Quoted from: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72211]:

    Digital download details revealed.

    Champions Online will be available for preorder through a number of outlets, but recently the details of the digital download option through Direct2Drive was released. By preordering from Direct2Drive, players will receive guaranteed access to Fileplanet's open beta and an exclusive costume piece: the Mechanoppendage Backpack.

    ----

    So I walk into a Tex-Mex restaraunt and have a look at the menu.  I decide on the Enchilada Dinner, which is described thusly:

    "1 beef enchilada in ranchero sauce served with refried beans, spanish rice and a crispy beef taco."

    But when my meal arrives I get all huffy about there not being any guacamole.

    I just don't see how you buying a pre-order pack that clearly says nothing about Early Start is Cryptic's fault and something they need to rectify.  You read the descriptions (unless you didn't, which isn't Cryptic's fault either) and made you're descision on where to place your pre-order.  They didn't MAKE you pre-order from where you did, you chose after having the various bonuses for each pack were revealed.  It was your descision, not theirs. 

    And if you did pre-order before, then, well, ya pays your moneys; ya takes your chances.  If you pre-orded before the announcement then you were gambling that you had made the best descision.

    So what have we learned here today?  It's your money and your descision how to spend it.  But I guess its easier to blame Cryptic than admit you were too short-sighted to read the descriptions of each pre-order offer.

  • AkumaDaimyoAkumaDaimyo Member Posts: 185

    Wasn't that good a review actually. Total Crap as you can find that all out on your own. PvP is a joke in that game since everyone can cherry pick their powers and it gets very hard to kill anyone at all or be killed yourself. If for some reason you didnt pick decent powers you get totally raped over and over once the other players find you and if you picked crappy powers early on and your max level? Can't respec them. You can only respec 10 lvls back. I found the game cool at first but its kinda boring after a short while. It seems too repetative to me.

  • describabledescribable Member UncommonPosts: 407

    I dunno, this game seemed good but i just can't get into it...

    character customisation is good, unfortunately for weapons unlocked don't get unlocked if you start a new character.. so you have to unlock those each time (wo0o microtransactions should sort that out *rolls eyes*). But it is the best part of this game but then again it was the best part of CoX too.

    Engine wise, it's not buggy.. (well you can go through the fountain in millenium square and through walls and stuff) but it's not that buggy. Shame it's clunky, unweilding and although cartoony.. i just can't get past the clunky ness... picking up rubble to have your hands full of "nothing" and rehaving to pick it up until the engine realises you're picking up part of it. ugh.. it's offputting. (you can see this really well during the tutorial saving foxbat).

    Combat feels consol-ish, it's like it was designed from the ground up for a console, with PC players tagged on (much like the crafting in this game), the combat targetting is... ugh awful. I like to be able to switch, but some powers require full power to work (like sigils) and half the time they don't actually work (like sigils). In fact there are two places (i've found so far level 15-16) in Millienium city where Sigils and Pets still refuse to activate.

    Quests are meh, some are fun where as others are waiting for a spawn... just to see someone steal it. Occassionally if you tag the enemy with any power whatsoever... you get credit. (occassionally). Some people group up, others refuse to group up. All the usual MMO fun, with killing 3 mobs to have someone get the crate you wanted in the middle.

    Mobs of enemies, doesn't actually have a balance, i mean you can take out a level 17 super vilian at level 13 (westside at night), but you might have trouble killing a couple of Foxbot henchmen which are level 14 and marked "tough". I dunno, i found itemisation kinda dumb too.. you can find items which increase your frameset powers but not many of them involve the "force" frameset. Just feels  half done.

    It's still fun, especially if they ever fix the Quarr invasion in Millenium City (you get one spawn leader and once he dies, it ends instead of spawning more, so the whole thing in MC lasts on average 20 secs... go to canada and the desert just now, lower level Quarr's but at least you'll get the perks done)

    I'd go through the amount of bugs in game just now, really needed another month for that extra polish. I'm enjoying it so far, but i don't think it'll hold my interest for that long.... especially once we see exactly what the microtranactions intail.

    If you enjoyed CoX, love the sense of arena PvP and lots of superhero like powers which may look different but all feel the exact same (try this), you'll love it. But there's better MMO's already on the market.... (except WAR of course lol).

    definately not for everyone.

    "nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week

  • riceae02riceae02 Member UncommonPosts: 180

    After reading all the post I am reminded of two blatantly obvious facts:

     

         1) "No matter what you do you can't please everyone."

         2) "Everybody has one."

  • VexeVexe Member Posts: 549

    I...I'm not even going to comment on the posts here.

    Good write up.

  • ShreddiShreddi Member UncommonPosts: 320

    Been playing through Beta and all weekend since early start and for me its the best mmo ever.  In CO the leveling of a character with so many choices and variables make it possible to put together a character entirely personalized to you.  So many combinations make it almost impossible to have 2 alike with same excact builds, characteristics, strengths and especially looks. The most individual unique characters of any mmo.  My character is simple compared to some of the most elaborate works of art running around.  The characte design feature is so detailed with patience you can replicate someone in real life thus creating an animated version of them.  Earlier I ran accross a character named Steve Irwin and it looked just like him down to the detail in his face and hair.  The leveling and choosing your powers requires thought and lots of strategy.  CO provides you with detailed specs of each power,  powers levels or enhancements and characters individual strengths/skills used to enhance your style of play.  there are advanced specs available as well, they show the numbers and specifics of what powers can benifit most and how they compliment each other or not.  reviewer mentioned the rooms you can try out each power as you earn.  Otsticacle course for travel powers and there are tons of those too.  Some way more fun than functional but you do get two travel powers so thats a plus.  The crash test dummies to shoot, a weight room for checking how much your strength and lifting power has improved when you increase its stats with a skill.  A mulitple level lazer cannon you try your defense powers on and lots of players testing theire power choices in a PVP envionment by dueling with each other in a friendly manner.  Yes its action packed with lots of eye candy.  But CO is not for everyone.  It IS definately for me thats for sure.  I am the worste at reading directions, taking notes, doing the math, following the rules and just having patience period.  But I love this game and the opportunity to build a character so custom, diverse and unique both in strenths, style  and looks.  But if your one of the people already complaining,  Please  Do Not Play it.  There are too many other games out there to choose from instead.  The people I meet in game are great and really like it as well.  The rest, a small but repetitive group are in the forums complaining.  Why they are not playing one of those many other mmos so readily available is what I dont understand.   I can not say how much I like this game.  If you decide to try it I hope you do too.

    This post is intentionally written as to not make any sense what so ever. Thank You Very Much.

  • VhalnVhaln Member Posts: 3,159
    Originally posted by Kryogenic

    Originally posted by kalebfrost


    Great Write up!



     

    Yeah it was. That guy actually made Champions seem like a fun game to play.

    If it has any staying power and they revamp the combat system, switch to multiple servers instead of multi instanced copies of each zone, through out the cash shop, and add in secret identities, I'd seriously consider subbing up for a few months or so, but I'm pretty sure that none of that will happen other than secret identities which a few of the developers hinted at and teased that that would eventually be added to the game.

    I hate that the game looks so good, but plays so horribly. I think the reason why the game seems good on paper is because it sounds awesome on paper, but it just seems so sterile and bland when you play it.

    I love comics. I'm 31 and I'm subscribed to a few titles still. I love video games. I have and play on every current gen system (admitedly I play my 360 more than anything else. The PS3 seriously needs to get some better titles and a more streamlined and functional way to play games online. PS Home sucks.). I've played just about every MMORPG that I could possibly get my hands on.

    You would think that this game would be a no-brainer for someone like me. I just can't get into it and it's frustrating to see a good concept  fall so short of the mark.

    In the end, DCUO will come out eventually and I hope that they can deliver.

     

     

    Same here.  I really like how they did a number of things, the mechanics look great on paper, and I thought CoH was one of the best MMOs of its time.  So yeah, CO seemed like a no-brainer - but after a few hours, I just couldn't take it anymore.  I really hated the gameplay.

     

     

    When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.

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